Sun and moon. Have you ever noticed they look exactly the same size in the earth’s sky? The sun is actually four hundred times larger than the moon, but the moon is four hundred times closer to earth than the sun. Hence, they both appear to have the same exact circumference. A coincidence, astronomers call it. Some bit of random chance. A lucky anomaly. But what would you call it?

The word ‘coincidence’ appears only once in the New Testament, in Luke 10:31. Jesus Himself speaks the word while telling His parable of the Good Samaritan. Specifically, He uses it while talking about a priest who happens to travel down the same road as an injured man yet chooses not to help. The Greek word for ‘coincidence’ is a combination of two words: sun meaning ‘together with’ and kurious meaning ‘supreme in authority.’ In essence, Jesus is saying the priest’s presence on that road is no random chance, no accidental event, no anomaly at all. Rather, it’s God’s providential arrangement. His chosen configuration. The sun and moon. His plan on display all along.

Psalm 74:16-17 declares, “Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth…”

What boundaries has God fixed in your life? What circumstances have come together to establish where you live, what you do, or who you know? Perhaps if we viewed these circumstances, expected or unexpected, from the perspective that God is “together with” us and that He is “supreme in authority” over it all, we might not overlook so often His hand working in our lives. We might find countless opportunities for gratitude and grace. And maybe, just maybe, our eyes might open to the many ways He wants to use us right where we are.

*First published by The Joyful Life Magazine.